


Like A Brand On My Heart

by LivinOnARarePair



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Soul Bond, Trade Aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 20:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2283663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivinOnARarePair/pseuds/LivinOnARarePair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lu leaves, and the fire lights in Eddie's chest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like A Brand On My Heart

Eddie loves Lu.

He doesn’t really care that Lu doesn’t love him back. Lu loves him as much as a mentor can love an apprentice, a friend can love a friend. He just doesn’t love Eddie romantically.

But that’s fine with Eddie. He doesn’t care that Lu is never going to make a move on him, because that doesn’t really matter to him. What does matter to him is all the moments that they get to spend together. He cherishes every one, savours them and saves them.

Lu knows Eddie loves him, and he doesn’t seem to mind either. It doesn’t bother him when on the road, he almost always wakes with an armful of Eddie, Eddie’s ear pressed tight over his heartbeat. He never gets annoyed with Eddie for following him around like a puppy. He’s good to Eddie, and really, that’s all that matters.

*

And then Lu leaves him. As Eddie watches the plane take off out the airport window, waving and pretending Lu can see him, the letters, _RL_ in Lu’s elegant, swooping handwriting, written just above his heart begin to burn like they had the day they’d appeared, the day he’d first met Lu.

He puts his hand to his chest as if he can stop his heart from ripping out of his chest to get back to Lu, and he turns away.

*

The letters continue to burn on the way home. He sits in the parking garage for a long while when he gets there. Finally, he drags himself out of the car, Lu’s car, now his, and trudges upstairs, hands flexing at his sides, itching to tear away his shirt and claw his heart out, carry it to Lu.

When he gets inside his apartment, he goes straight to his room and curls up in a tiny ball in the centre of his bed. He’s just about to turn his phone off so he can sleep uninterrupted when it buzzes with a new message. The picture of Lu and himself lights up the screen, and the burning in his chest eases to a warm glow for now. It’s a picture message and takes a moment to download, but when it does, the fire in Eddie’s chest lights again, different this time. There’s no message attached, just the picture.

The picture of Lu’s bare chest, two letters burned in Eddie’s careful, thin scrawl right above his heart: _EL_.


End file.
